Read an Excerpt from the Shocking True Teen Stories E-book!

Prepare to be blown away! Shocking True Teen Stories collects some of the most amazing and unbelievable reader stories ever printed in the pages of Seventeen magazine. In all, twelve brave teens share the gritty details in their own words, so you can learn from their experiences. Read an excerpt below!

Brooke,16, never thought a joke with her best friend would turn into a major scandal.

As told to Jessica Press

On one of the last days of school last spring, I was walking in the hall with my best friend, Liz*, when a friend said she had to talk to us—right away. She'd heard a rumor that a naked picture of Liz and me was going around! I felt my face get hot; suddenly I was convinced everyone was staring through my clothes, picturing me naked. I started racking my brain, trying to piece together what happened.

GIRLS' NIGHT IN

A few days earlier, Liz had come to my house after gymnastics practice. Since school was almost over, our parents said she could sleep over. Just after midnight, we decided to get ready for bed and hop in the shower together. (We were used to showering with each other because of cheerleading and gymnastics.) We were in a hyper mood, cracking each other up and being the type of deliriously silly you can be only with your best friend. And just before we jumped in the shower, we took a pic on our phones: It was of the reflection of us in the mirror, standing naked and smiling. I took mine in sepia, Liz took hers in black-and- white. It was one of those silly pictures you take at sleepovers or camp that you don't think about. But just then, as I was standing in the hall freaking out, it was the only thing I could think about.

STOLEN SECRETS

Turns out, the picture everyone had was black-and-white—which meant it had come from Liz's phone. Liz was stunned; she never sent it to anyone! We hadn't even told anyone about it. The only thing we could think was that someone must have flipped through Liz's photos over the weekend and sent it around. You would think if you had a picture you were worried about, you'd be careful; but neither of us thought much about it when we took it, or afterward. That day, I really wasn't focused on who stole the pic, though; I was just trying to attract as little attention as possible. I hated walking around not knowing who'd seen it; I felt like I couldn't make eye contact with anyone. And my boyfriend, nick, was so angry; not at me, but that everyone knew what his girlfriend looked like naked. The only good thing was that school was ending, and summer would put this behind us.

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RUDE AWAKENING

But in august, Liz's mom and my parents got a call: one of our principals had received an unmarked envelope with a printout of the picture in it! "Why would you do something like that, Brooke?" my mom asked. I felt so guilty that I'd let my parents down. That's when I told them the whole story. Then we went to see the principals, who said they had to take disciplinary action: I got kicked off cheer because I was "a bad representative of the school and squad." I burst into tears; I couldn't believe I was being punished so majorly for something that had been stolen from Liz and that had embarrassed me enough. To make things worse, the principals couldn't believe we took the picture randomly, with no intention of showing our boyfriends or other people to get attention. They didn't get that so many normal girls do stuff like this all the time; it felt like they thought we were dirty or bad or lying to them.

Once my parents were involved, they reported everything to the police. They wanted to figure out who stole the picture; they thought it was unfair that the person who stole or sent the picture wasn't being punished. One guy even posted on a blog that he had the photo, if anyone wanted it—and all he got was a warning.

The police questioned Liz and me and interviewed suspects. But they never proved who did it. I wish I could go back in time and not take the picture. There was nothing to gain by doing it—and I'll never do anything like that again.

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